Sing for Your Supper
Encyclopedia
Sing for Your Supper is an American popular song by composer Richard Rodgers
and lyricist Lorenz Hart
. The song was debuted in their 1938 Broadway musical the Boys from Syracuse
, in which it was performed as a trio with Muriel Angelus
, Marcy Westcott and Wynn Murray. The lyrics describe a singer performing to earn his meals: "Sing for your supper, / And you'll get breakfast. / Songbirds always eat / If their song is sweet to hear." The song has been recorded by numerous jazz and pop artists over the years, including Rudy Vallée
, Count Basie
, Mel Tormé
, Helen Humes
, the Mamas & the Papas
and Cher
. Author Ethan Mordden
used the title for his 2005 study of the Broadway musical in the 1930s, Sing for Your Supper: the Broadway Musical in the 1930s.
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
and lyricist Lorenz Hart
Lorenz Hart
Lorenz "Larry" Milton Hart was the lyricist half of the famed Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart...
. The song was debuted in their 1938 Broadway musical the Boys from Syracuse
The Boys from Syracuse
The Boys from Syracuse is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, based on William Shakespeare's play, The Comedy of Errors, as adapted by librettist George Abbott. The score includes swing and other contemporary rhythms of the 1930s. The show was the first musical...
, in which it was performed as a trio with Muriel Angelus
Muriel Angelus
Muriel Angelus was a British-born stage, musical theatre and film actress.Born Muriel Angelus Findlay London, England to Scottish parentage, she developed a sweet-voiced soprano at an early age...
, Marcy Westcott and Wynn Murray. The lyrics describe a singer performing to earn his meals: "Sing for your supper, / And you'll get breakfast. / Songbirds always eat / If their song is sweet to hear." The song has been recorded by numerous jazz and pop artists over the years, including Rudy Vallée
Rudy Vallée
Rudy Vallée was an American singer, actor, bandleader, and entertainer.-Early life:Born Hubert Prior Vallée in Island Pond, Vermont, the son of Charles Alphonse and Catherine Lynch Vallée...
, Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
, Mel Tormé
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
, Helen Humes
Helen Humes
Helen Humes was an American jazz and blues singer.Humes was successively a teenaged blues singer, band vocalist with Count Basie, saucy R&B diva and a mature interpreter of the classy popular song.-Career:...
, the Mamas & the Papas
The Mamas & the Papas
The Mamas & the Papas were a Canadian/American vocal group of the 1960s . The group recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968 with a short reunion in 1971, releasing five albums and 11 Top 40 hit singles...
and Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
. Author Ethan Mordden
Ethan Mordden
Ethan Mordden is an American author.-Biography:Mordden was raised in Pennsylvania, in Venice, Italy, and on Long Island, and is a graduate of Friends Academy in Locust Valley, New York, and the University of Pennsylvania...
used the title for his 2005 study of the Broadway musical in the 1930s, Sing for Your Supper: the Broadway Musical in the 1930s.